Jon Stewart: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

Jon Stewart: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor was a variety special that aired June 21, 2022 on PBS. The show honored comedian Jon Stewart who was being awarded with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor which was presented at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Those who helped celebrate his accomplishments included Dave Chappelle, Steve Carell, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Ed Helms, Olivia Munn, Samantha Bee, Bassem Youssef, Jon Meacham, Jimmy Kimmel, Pete Davidson and Bruce Springsteen.

The event was filmed and shown on PBS. The broadcast of the ceremony was similar to the previous ceremony, Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2019, in that it used archival footage of Dave Chappelle performing standup, clips from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Stewart's testimony at the congressional hearing for the 9/11 Victim's Compensation Fund.

Speakers
In order of appearance

When accepting the award, Stewart spoke about the threats to comedy saying:

"'Comedy doesn’t change the world, but it’s a bellwether. We’re the banana peel in the coal mine. When a society is under threat, comedians are the ones who get sent away first. It’s just a reminder to people that democracy is under threat. Authoritarians are the threat to comedy, to art, to music, to thought, to poetry, to progress, to all those things.”"

In the audience: Members of the audience included John Mulaney, Kim Kardashian, Yvonne Orji, Jason Jones, as well as Jen Psaki, Pete Buttigieg, Chasten Buttigieg, and Nancy Pelosi

Production
The broadcast of the ceremony was similar to the previous ceremony, Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2019, in that it used archival footage of Stewart's career. The clips included were from the 1990s MTV late-night program, The Jon Stewart Show, his Comedy Central show The Daily Show and his advocacy work for 9/11 first responders including his testimony at the congressional hearing for the 9/11 Victim's Compensation Fund.

Clips were interspersed of Stewart with fellow comedians, family members, producers and Pete Buttigieg at the Winebar in Washington, D.C.